VLSI Design Course with Commercial EDA Tools to Meet Industry Demand – From Logic Synthesis to Physical Design

Abstract

With the growing demand on IC design engineers globally, this requires engineering graduates, particularly in the area of electronic engineering, to be sufficiently trained and equipped with the knowledge in IC design. Institution of higher learning plays an important role to ensure that these graduates acquire not only solid fundamentals, but also adequate practical skills. This paper presents the approach that has been utilized in the VLSI design course which is implemented in Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR). Using commercial electronic design automation (EDA) tools, the course helps to equip students with the knowledge in industry standard VLSI design flow, with the emphasis on the process flow from logic synthesis to physical design.